The proposed study will take the next step in an ongoing line of research designed to elucidate alcohol-cognition-emotion connections. Recent theorists and empirical data suggest that alcohol does not directly affect emotional responding. However, alcohol may exert an influence on emotion indirectly through its impact on cognitive processes. Specifically, alcohol may have a detrimental effect on the processing of peripheral or task irrelevant stimuli presented in the context of more central, task relevant cues. Thus, if these peripheral stimuli would ordinarily evoke distress, intoxicated individuals may experience deficient emotional responding. In the current study, the effect of alcohol on the emotional response to a cue signaling the impending onset of a potent stressor will be assessed both when the cue is presented in the periphery of a more central cognitive task, and when the threat cue is presented without competing central stimuli. State- of-the-art psychophysiological measures of emotion and cognition will provide both an index of fear responding to the stressor and a much needed simultaneous assessment of alcohol's selective impact on the processing of both the central and peripheral cues. It is predicted that intoxicated individuals will exhibit deficient feat responding to the stressor when it is presented in the periphery of a central cognitive task. Moreover, a concomitant reduction in the processing of the peripheral fear cue should be observed. No such alcohol-related reduction in the central tasks is expected.